and pointed to a renovated church that
stood out, a beacon, among its ramshackle
neighbors-"is Mother Tucker's House of
Prayer. We've made the whole upstairs into
a dormitory that sleeps 80 men. It's a
community project. All the months we
were working on it, Mother Tucker never
turned anyone away. They slept on pews.
We've even got two or three large rooms for
families."
As I got out of the patrol car, I asked Ger
ald Atchley if he always had the Bible with
him, the one on the dashboard. "Yes," he re
plied. "This cover is all leather, stitching
and everything, hand-tooled. The guy mak
ing these is doing life for murder. He turned
to God as he came through our jail."
kansas. Seaport (yes, seaport), im
mensely wealthy industrial-business
headquarters, richly endowed cultural
hub. The performing arts are big time. Pro
ductions of Tulsa Opera and the American
Theatre Company appear in the Performing
Arts Center, a splendid building with sev
eral theaters that seat 3,300. The Ballet
Theatre and Philharmonic also play here to
large followings.
About 370,000 souls reside here, making
Tulsa the 38th city by population in the
U. S. Another 365,000 live in the six-county
metropolitan area. For many, only one thing
keeps the city from being absolutely up-to
date: The state law against selling liquor by
the drink. Some restaurants simply ignore
the law, others offer free "private club"
memberships. This is referred to, a Tulsan
told me soberly, as "liquor by the wink."
What's so great about Tulsa? Drumbeat
ers enjoy the question. Room to grow, they
inform you. High quality of life, measured
against other cities by education, environ
ment, housing, government, income, health
care, recreation. Churches overflow on Sun
day, weekday activities are well attended.
Tulsa is a citadel of the Bible belt, as prayer
ful a community as you are likely to find.
"A lot of people," Steve Crane, a young
photographer, said to me, "believe that God
has chosen Tulsa to be a city of refuge when
Judgment Day comes. The Bible speaks of
cities of refuge. We are living, I believe, in
end times."
Well, God-fearing Tulsa is also the buckle
on the tornado belt. I remember an Easter
when the Reverend Bill McClellan and his
small flock thought the end had come while
they were at worship. Tornadoes struck
suddenly like a wrathful Jehovah, making
evensong hideous. On Tulsa's south, the
Liberty Heights Freewill Baptist Church
collapsed during a Communion and foot
washing service. Thirty worshipers, four of
them children, were pinned beneath the fall
en roof and walls. Though serious injuries
resulted, no one, miraculously, was killed.
It took nearly an hour to free everyone.
A day or two later I walked with Bill
McClellan through the ruins. He sat on a sal
vaged pew. "Some of my people thought it
was the devil's work. No. The Lord was
testing us, testing our faith. This was only a
building. We are the church. And through
our prayers He brought us out of it. He saved
us to go and win souls for Him. Now we
must rebuild."
I called Pastor McClellan again last Eas
ter. "A fine day of preachin' and singin'," he
told me. All was well with his people and
their new building.
Sometimes in deep night I pondered Tul
sa's sturdy underpinnings, waking to a
church bell attesting time's round. Presently
a mournful whistle would lull me to sleep
another freight clattering through. I did not
look forward to morning light, when a fear
ful clamor would erupt overhead. My hotel,
the new Williams Plaza, already was adding
floors, growing with Tulsa.
That work now has been completed, and
two resplendent black office towers have
sprung up next door. Other spires for banks
and corporate empires are rising. New ho
tels have opened. One, the swank Excelsior,
makes its Rolls-Royce available to guests.
Cultural delights await. To the opera? The
ater? Ballet? Ball game? The Tulsa Drillers,
a farm team of the Texas Rangers, strive in a
fancy new ball park with aluminum grand
stands and artificial turf.
Beyond downtown, out the thorough
fares, more construction. Woodland Hills
Mall adds 160 stores, making it the largest
shopping center for a hundred miles around.
The first phase of Warren Place, a 450
million-dollar office park development,
goes up. Evangelist Oral Roberts' dream,
High-flying Tulsa
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